Extreme threat: New centre aims to thwart lone-wolf attacks

They all took lives – Norwegian mass murderer Anders Breivik, right-wing UK terrorist Thomas Mair and Dunblane school shooter Thomas Hamilton – and they also displayed fixated behaviour in the lead-up to their violent crimes.

Up to 300 people could be assessed by a new Victorian centre aimed at thwarting lone wolves, mass murderers and terrorists before they fully realise their dangerous obsessions.

The Fixated Threat Assessment Centre, which begins operating on Thursday, will be staffed by specialist police and forensic mental health clinicians who will identify and monitor seriously unwell individuals who exhibit extremist ideology, show signs of becoming radicalised, or have fixated grievances.

The Bourke Street tragedy was a catalyst for the $31.6 million centre.

Advertisement

NSW announced a centre in the aftermath of the Lindt siege in Sydney, but the Victorian model will be based on centres in Queensland and Europe.

The centre will aim to reduce the risk of lone-wolf attacks and stop potentially violent individuals from falling through the cracks, Victoria Police said.

Mental health teams in the community will also be expanded to work with individuals identified by centre staff, Police Minister Lisa Neville said on Wednesday.

“We know that centres like this help identify high-risk individuals and have the potential to stop violent incidents before they occur,” Ms Neville said.

"A team of people will be able to identify – does that person need further assessment? Do they need intervention and what is the nature of that intervention? Is it mental health support or is it, in fact, a police intervention?"

Some of the identifying factors include individuals who obsessively write letters, emails, social media posts or make phone calls to public figures, Assistant Commissioner Ross Guenther said.

“It’s the repeated code of conduct. Quite reasonably we've got a right to express our opinions to public officials, but it’s when that conduct becomes threatening or whether that escalates by way of the words that are used, we would investigate that. Obviously there would be a tipping point where we would regard that behaviour as risky,” he said.

Mr Guenther said there was a small cohort within the 300 people identified that they will take immediate action on in terms of their treatment. Most are ideologically driven, either politically or religiously.

"They would be the first brief we would look at because potentially they pose the greatest risk to public office holders and the broader community," he said.

Forensicare, which provides forensic mental health services, will help staff the centre. Its executive director Jonathon Norton said a significant proportion of people who could pose a significant risk may have a mental illness.

"If that can be identified early, and treated, then the risk can be reduced and the community can be safer," he said.

"It is certainly not the case that anyone with a mental illness poses a risk, it's only a small section of people who have a serious illness with a constellation of other factors."

Queensland's centre is reportedly referred about 600 people annually, but monitor 150 a year, who were mostly men and aged in their 50s.